Pages

Tuesday, October 20, 2015

A Best Seller

Therefore, we never stop thanking God that when you received
His message from us, you didn’t think of our words as mere human ideas. You
accepted what we said as the very Word of God – which, of course, it is. And the
Word continues to work in you who believe.

1 Thessalonians 2:13 (NLT)

I’m a Bible geek. Are you? Do you
own more than one Bible? Do you read it, or parts of it, over and over?

Only my favorite cookbooks are
referenced repeatedly like my Bible. I occasionally reread non-fiction and use
them as resources, but most books are passed along.

On the other hand…

I have an entire shelf of Bibles. The
oldest are the one presented by the Methodist church I grew up attending and a
King James I studied and highlighted for my Baptist middle school. My mother
gave me my first study Bible, a readable New International Translation, as well
as my second which was a different ‘flavor’. Over time I’ve expanded my
collection with a variety of translations and commentary that emphasize archeology,
personal application, and nuances of the original Greek. A Bible for every
occasion including a thin, portable one and a well-worn copy held together by
duct tape.

Not everyone holds these words in
such high esteem.

For instance, several of my
confirmation students can’t find the Bible the church gave them a year ago.
While doing research for a recent lesson, I discovered some interesting facts.

The Bible is the most banned and
burned book ever, yet more original handwritten manuscripts (5,300) have been
preserved than any other ancient text. Homer’s Iliad places second with only 643 copies – a significant
difference. These handwritten manuscripts were copied with amazing accuracy and
people lost their lives to preserve them.